


Dalla padella alla brace

by Arithanas



Category: I pirati della Malesia | The Pirates of Malaysia - Emilio Salgari
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-26
Updated: 2016-11-26
Packaged: 2018-09-02 10:11:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8663503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arithanas/pseuds/Arithanas
Summary: Yanez and Sandokan were unusually well matched when mischief is the issue, but at the beginning of their partnership there were some kinks to work.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [laurus_nobilis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/laurus_nobilis/gifts).



The image of the lone soldier looking for a place to take a leak froze those two men in place before they rushed to the corner they just had cleared and lean their backs against the building. One of them brought his hands to his face to muffle the sound of his own laughter.

“Can you stop giggling?” Sandokan almost growled. Big drops of sweat were running down his chin while his eyes surveyed the open space between them and the jungle.

“I’ll try, Little Brother,” Yanez de Gomera said, but there was not a promise in his voice. “You have to admit this is so damnably funny.”

Sandokan grumbled between clenched teeth because there was not an appropriate reply to give to his giggling companion. They have entered the Victoria fortress with ease, they ransacked the office until they found the damned log, they even had time to translated it to the Mompracem cipher right there in the office . They even had time to make two copies of the list!

They had almost escaped the town without a single encounter in what seemed to be the perfect, easiest steal of their careers. Sandokan felt like cursing when he let his guard down just when they were almost done with the work.

“So, are you planning to clear this last obstacle with laughter, Yanez?”

“Why not?” Yanez took a deep breath to control his unbridled and perpetual good humor. “Just follow my lead and we’ll be in the prahu in no time.”

If Yanez already had a plan in mind they might get away unscathed with those precious pages. Sandokan allowed himself to smile, but that smile wilted when Yanez put a fresh cigarette in his lips and started to beeline straight to the soldier with his hat tilted to let his face in the open.

“Damned Portuguese…” Sandokan muttered and shook his head. He should be used to his brother’s suicidal schemes by now.

Yanez approached the soldier without hesitation; his gait was encompassed and rhythmic as if he was over the deck of their prahu. He was not hiding that he was a seaman, but Victoria Town was full of those. Sandokan wonder what his brother plan was.

“Hey, you!” Yanez called with clear, loud voice. The same voice countless sailors and soldiers had heard when the heat of a raid was at its loudest.

There could be less unsettling situations in which one could be called out, but when a man has his hands between his legs and was holding his own shames the last thing he expect is to be addressed. Sandokan found himself as stunned as the soldier and part of him cringed in sympathy at that underhanded rouse.

Without missing a beat, Yanez passed his cigarette to one corner of his mouth and insisted: "Yes, you.”

The soldier turned around, too astonished to think of getting his hands up. The moonlight made clear that he was in front of a European man and his shoulders loosen up visibly, his whole demeanor spoke of the sudden relief that washed over his spirit. That soldier thought he was safe among his own and Sandokan saw his cue clear and loud.

“Do you have fire?”

The soldier took a gander over his shoulder to ensure his safety. Sandokan barely had time to conceal his presence in the door.

“A moment, if you please,” the soldier said turning his eyes to the business at hand.

“Of course,” Yanez tone was gentle and he seemed to give the man some privacy by taking a step back with his hand inside a pocket. “There is no hurry…”

The soldier, his hands on his belt, looked to his interlocutor with curiosity. Yanez raised his hand and stroke a match with his nail.

“It seems like I have matches right here.”

Sandokan pounced over the suddenly blinded soldier and knocked out could with one swift punch. Yanez blew the match off and tossed it to the ground without lighting up the cigarette.

“Next time, I need to make clear you were meant to sneak past the mark.”

“This way is safer,” Sandokan said, brushing the dust off his clothes.

Yanez made no comment and laid his back against the wall, his hands already forming a step. Sandokan stepped on those hands and climbed up the wall with ease. With the same graceful movement, Sandokan offered his hand to his friend and Yanez ascended next to him.

“We are almost safe,” Yanez commented but the last word was drowned in the sound of barking.

“Sometimes,” Sandokan said with an exasperate huff, “silence is wiser.”

“I’ll take it into account,” Yanez promised and stood tall on the wall, looking for a high branch.

The coarse words never abandoned Sandokan mouth because his companion jumped to the next tree without another word. This practical approach was not lost to him and soon he found his own way out the wall. Taking a hike through the dense canopy of the jungle was as habitual as climbing the shrouds to them and a quicker way to reach their destination than walking.

The jungle around them was roused in their wake. The birds complained with sharp cries and bands of gibbons rushed past them enraged by the interruption of their sleep. Yanez, with his customary cold blood, dodged the passing primates and jumped to their empty nest. Sandokan, more used to fight his way through the obstacles barely avoided a territorial confrontation with the enraged patriarch of the gibbon family with a mighty jump to the nearest tree.

The sound of the fabric ripping alerted Yanez who turned around and caught Sandokan’s pistol in the air. Such feat pleased and surprised him in equal measures. Sandokan, perched on the branch cursed the animal in his own language before turning his gaze to the surprised Portuguese.

“That beast took my sash!” Sandokan groaned when he finally set foot in their temporary shelter they had conquered.

“At least, it wasn’t your skin.”

That commentary was punctuated by a dull thud that shook the whole tree. Yanez de Gomera turned around to face his partner, his face show no sign of alarm.

“We needed that red piece of clothe to signal the prahu.”

“I’m aware.”

“This is your fault.”

“No, Little Brother, this mess is on you: you knocked that soldier when you could just pass behind his back.”

“I have to do it. He might remember…”

The sudden snap of vegetation made them stop the bickering. Sandokan, always cautious, moved in a flash to cover Yanez’s mouth and pressing their bodies against the bark.  No precaution was superfluous when there was a price on their heads. 

The barking dogs were close, but they turned west before they reached the nest. the patrol passed within their sight range, with their arms ready but their eyes in the dogs. Probably, they were following the band of gibbons and the scent of the stolen item.

Sandokan relaxed when he saw their pursuers get lost in the jungle and turned his eyes to his companion. Yanez was holding his breath, but his eyes betrayed his urge to continue the argument.

“He might remember what, precisely?” Yanez asked as soon as Sandokan took out his hand. His words were rushed and his tone harsh. “That an English-speaking drunken sailor asked him for fire?”

The words, in addition of his fingers on Yanez’s face, deliver the meaning as precisely as the shot of a pistol. Sandokan drew breath sharply between clenched teeth when he noticed how absurd his reaction was, but his pride was fighting against the contradictory urge to apologize and to blame Yanez for being born with paler skin than him.

“No, don’t worry,” Yanez shoved the gun on Sandokan’s hand, but his tone was not comforting. “I take it as an accolade, but you need to think more before go start bashing heads around.”

“We still need a way to signal the crew.”

“Are we in a hurry?” Yanez had found a dry place in the nest and let his weight rest against a branch.

“No, we are not,” Sandokan replied, not really sure what was his friend’s point.

“Then we can wait for the sunrise.”

“I don’t quite follow…”

“The soldiers had lost our tracks.”

“Yes, but…”

“The gibbons are properly scared.”

“I must…”

“The crew is getting worried.”

“Yanez!”

The Portuguese, undaunted, lighted his cigarette and took a long draft. 

“So that tomorrow, at dawn, once the soldiers were bored with pursuing the tail of their dogs and before the gibbons come to reclaim their nest, we can properly assuage the anxious crew as we take a stroll by the sea.” Another puff was taken. “I find that’s an excellent way to start a day.”

“Do you pretend to make me believe you have planned this outcome?”

Yanez shrugged. “I have been long enough in the sea to know one must go with the wind and not against it.”

“And what are we going to do,”  Sandokan finally succumbed and sat by his friend, “if my little tigers don’t recognize us?”

“Then, Little Brother, you must atone for your lack of foresight and swim to the prahus to let them know,” Yanez said with amusement in his voice and his left arm over Sandokan’s shoulder. “I would race you, but someone must keep the cipher dry.”

“Damned Portuguese…” 

“Get some sleep. We are safe for now.”

With a sigh, Sandokan rested his weight on his friend's shoulder. There was no need to argue against such a solid plan.


End file.
